office



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS MAYAR, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

PROCESS OF REPRODUCING 01L PAINTINGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 450,702, dated April 21, 1891.

Application filed October 5, 1889. Serial No. 326,136. (No specimens.)

To aZZ whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, LOUIS MAYAE, of 59 New Bond Street, IV. London, United Kingdom of Great Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Process of Reproducing Oil Paintings; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Heretofore pictures have been reproduced by first printing the diiferent colors for the reproduction on paper, and from the said paper retransferred on a second paper, and from the second paper retransferred on the canvas or other surfaces by certain processes which involve complicated, endless, and very expensive labors, which by my new improvements are reduced to about one-half of the cost by the old process.

The object of my invention is to reproduce in colors and printed direct on canvas or other suitable surfaces any oil paintings and drawings with the touches of the brush, reliefs, concavities, and impastements, and rendered by this new process a perfect facsimile of the original, and copies of an original can be reproduced in unlimited numbers.

I proceed in different ways according to the work I wish to reproduce.

I prepare first the canvas with several coats of colors (more or less, according to the work I have to reproduce) in order to obtain the necessary thickness for reproducing the reliefs, concavities, impastements,and strokes of the brush. After each coat of color I powder with sandarac or chalk and let it dry. Vhen dried, I pass the canvas through a press or cylinders for the purpose of obtaining the softness and smoothness necessary for printing. To prevent the canvas stretching in printing I pass on the back a coat, or coats, if necessary, of gum-arabic or gommeline, spirits of wine, or other similar suitable substance, which give the canvas the stiffness necessary, a solution to render it suitable for receiving the impressions by machine printing-press or lithographpress in the usual way. I take an outline of the oil painting intended to be reproduced on paper or any other suitable material used in chronic-lithography, which I transfer on stone or zinc, from which I obtain a proof, which gives me all the different flats or tints of the picture.

The stones necessary for the reproduction of the painting and the different shades and lights are prepared'on thesame principle asthe chromo-lithographic process. The colors are prepared for the reproduction of oil painting and printed direct from the stones on the can vas by machinepress or lithographic press.

To reproduce an oil painting with perfect exactness and resemblanceI take an imprint of the oil painting with gommeline,india-1ubber, gutta-percha, and gelatine, or any other suitable substance, which mixture I pour while it is warm 011 the oil painting which I have previously covered with a tissue-paper or other suitable thin material imbibed with sweet-oil in order to prevent the said mixture sticking to the oil painting. When the said mixture is perfectly dry, I separate it from the oil painting, which has not been damaged by the operation, and now with the imprint obtained, which is an exact reproduction of the reliefs, concavities, impastements, and strokes of the artists brush, I obtain by the process of electro-metallurgy or galvanoplastics a plate or block which I use as matrix. Having now obtained the picture or reproduction of the oil painting and the plate or block for reproducing the reliefs, concavities, impastements, and strokes of the artists brush, I place the canvas on which the picture is printed on the platform of a hydraulic press. I cover the surface of the picture with a tissuepaper. The plate is then heated and placed 011 the surface of the picture,'which is separated by the tissue-paper, and by a powerful pressure the reliefs, concavities, impastements, and strokes of the artists brush are reproduced with perfection, exactness, and fidelity. After the picture has been taken from the hydraulic press, it found that the tissue-paper has stuck on the picture it can be washed with soap-water and soft sponge, and when dried pass on a coat of good varnish and the picture is finished.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim is 1. The process of reproducing oil paintings, which consists in first preparing a piece of canvas with a coat or coats of color, then powdering the same after each coat, then pressing the said piece of canvas covering the painting with tissue-paper, then placing a suitable substance thereon whereby an impression may be taken, and taking an imprint by bringing the picture and canvas together and applying pressure thereon, substantially as specified.

2. The process of reproducing oil paintings, which consists in first preparing a piece of canvas by applying a coat or coats of color, then powdering the same and pressing the said piece of canvas, preventing stretching by applying a coat or coats of suitable material to the back thereof, covering the painting with a layer of thin material, covering the thin material with a suitable substance whereby an impression may be taken, and then taking an imprint by bringing the picture and canvas together and applying pressure thereon, substantially as specified.

London, August 23, 1889.

L. MAYAR. WVitnesses:

WM. THOS. MARsHALL, J. TOWNSEND THOMPSON. 

